Railroad-switch



(No Model.)

- J. G. WOOLVERTON.

RAILROAD SWITCH.

No. 517,090. Patented Mar. 27, 1894.

UNrTno STATES [ATENT Pr on.

JACOB O. WOOLVERTON, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

RAILROAD-SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 517,090, dated March27, 1894. Application filed May 12, 1893. Serial No. 473,956. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JACOB C. WOOLVERTON, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and Stateof New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRailroad- Switches, of which the followingis a specification.

My invention relates to an improvementin switches for street railwaysgenerally but more.particularly to cable and electric railways; and itconsists of the construction and arrangement of parts and combination ofparts as will be hereinafter more fully set out and claimed.

The object of my invention is to provide a switch which may be operatedfrom the car by the driver, thus obviating the necessity of the driveror conductor leaving the car or stopping the car and the employment of aswitch tender by placing a lever on the platform of the car which leverextends above and below the platform which the driver operates with hisfoot thus operating mechanism underneath the car and the switch.

In the drawings Figure l is a plan View of a switch with my inventionapplied thereto. Fig. 2, is a section of Fig.1 on the line X- X. Fig. 3is a detail view of the track and switch plate.

A represents the main track, and B the side or switch track.

' At the juncture of the main and switch tracks is pivoted the switchtongue 0.

D is the switch plate, on which the tongue O is pivoted. This plate hasprojections 01 and d formed on it that form a continuation of the railsA, B. The rail 01 has a cut away portion 01 and under this cut awayportion an opening (1 is made.

E is a sliding rail, one side of which is straight while the other sideis curved. This rail E is adapted to slide in the cut away portion 01while a pin or rod e, which is formed on the under side of this rail E,is adapted to work in the opening (i The rail E is preferably formed L.shaped.

e is a flexible band secured to the rail E and to the rail d on eachside of the cut away portion.

d is a projection formed on the extreme outer edge of plate D the endsof which flare outwardly. The inner portion of the switch plate D isconvex as at (1 so as to prevent Water, &c., pooling on it.

H represents the'platform of a car and H the wheels thereof. 7

H are brackets secured underneath the car, in which is swung the frameh, which has a link h and arm 71 extending toward the front of the car.A rod 71 1s loosely secured to the link h and extends up through'the carplatform and is provided with a head 72 h is a spiral spring securedaround the rod h and adapted to be compressed between the head 71 andthe car platform.

Loosely secured to the arm M, which is bent at right angles as at h, isa shoe I.

K is a bracket extending upward from the arm k in which is secured aspiral spring is.

On the rear of the shoe I is secured a rode; around which is secured aspiral spring 2' said rod 45 passing throughthe.bracket K, under thespring k, and extending beyond the bracket, the spring 2' being confinedbetween the bracket and the head i of the rod.

The operation is as follows: To open the switch, the driver presses,with his foot upon pushed over toward the switch tongue 0 by reason ofthe shoe I forcing its passage between the rail E and projection (1until the pin or rod 6 strikes the switch tongue 0 thereby forcing itaway from the rail 01 thus throwing the switch open. 'As soon as the carhas passed the switch the driver releases the rod 72, of its pressureand the shoe and frame to which it is attached swings up to its normalposition by means of the spiral spring 71- As soon as the car has passedthe switch the rail E is drawn back to its normal position by means ofthe flexible band or strip 6 while the switch is closed by means of aspring suitably arranged for such purpose.

The shoe is arranged to trip if it strikes an obstacle in such a mannerthat no matter how the obstruction is met it will trip automatically.For instance, should the shoe I strike an obstacle the rear end of theshoe. would be raised carrying with it the rod t' which moves under thespring in the bracket K and as soon as the obstruction is passed thespring is forces the rod 2' and shoe back to their normal position.

I do not herein claim the specific switch operating shoe and itsmechanism attached to the car as it will form the subject matter ofanother application which I am aboutto file.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a switch, the switch plate having rails formed thereon one ofwhich has a cut away portion, a rail adapted to slide in said cut awayportion and a switch tongue pivoted on said plate and adapted to beoperated by said sliding rail, when moved, substantiallyas described.

2. In a railway switch, the switch plate having rails formed thereon,one of which has a cut away portion and an opening below said portion, arail, provided with a pin or rod said rail and pin adapted to workin thecut away portion and opening respectively; and a switch tongue pivotedto said plate, substantially as described.

3. In a railway switch, the switch plate having rails formed thereon,one of which has a cut away portion, a rail adapted to work in said cutaway portion, an elastic band or strip connecting said movable rail withthe main rail and a switch tongue pivoted on the switch plate and aspring holding said tongue normally closed substantially as described.

4:. In a railway switch, the switch plate, having rails formed thereonone of which has a cut away portion; a rail adapted to work in said cutaway portion; a projection formed on the outer edge of said switchplate; and a switch tongue pivoted on said plate, in combination with acar having shoe adapted to engage the projection, andmovable rail,substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname, in presence of two witnesses, this 24th day of April, 1893.

JACOB C. WOOLVERTON.

Witnesses:

THEODORE CLARKSON, WILLIAM H. GLARKsoN.

